Clark Howard mentioned Honda Civic hybrid has a problem with mpg falling substantially after recall reprogramming. Anyone know more about this as Clark sometimes is an alarmist over nothing and misses completely the alarm of our country being spent into oblivion.

Since there's no Civic Hybrid site I used the Insight one as I doubt i'm the only one with both hybrids and info is scarce.
Sirry but I couldn't delete the 'insight' word from title.
And you should get to know Howard; he has a lot of excellent financial stuff to file for reference.

You are not doing much good too putting "Insight" on the title when no batteries issues have been reported with the Insight!

Don't really know this Clark Howard (just seen his site after searching with Google), but I suppose he's referring to the Civic, right?
Anyway, it should be noted that it will probably take some times to verify this claims, because there are also users that haven't noted any changes, some that have seen better milieage, and so on.

I just found out who Clark Howard is and read what he wrote. His article twists the facts quite a bit. Read the LA Times article and you'll get closer or read the thread on Edmunds and you'll find the truth. The latest update (not a recall) seems to be improving failing batteries and improving mileage in hot climates. Earlier updates had reduced MPG significantly. Those that are seeing "10 mpg" drops are being denied assist when their batteries are empty. These are people whose cars were recal-ing constantly. Under the new software, some of them have improved to the point that they no longer recal and are running strong. The people would not have gotten a new battery anyway because they had no IMA light yet. Now they may not get one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mahout

Clark Howard mentioned Honda Civic hybrid has a problem with mpg falling substantially after recall reprogramming. Anyone know more about this as Clark sometimes is an alarmist over nothing and misses completely the alarm of our country being spent into oblivion.

Since there's no Civic Hybrid site I used the Insight one as I doubt i'm the only one with both hybrids and info is scarce.
Sirry but I couldn't delete the 'insight' word from title.
And you should get to know Howard; he has a lot of excellent financial stuff to file for reference.

I've got both and had the update applied to my 2006 HCH II on the 9th. It was recal'ing often (1 or 2x per day) and was proving to be a challenge on daily drives into the city.

With the update the car doesn't completely crash as often, but the SoC sill seems to wildly vary at times from 3 to 8 bars and back again in less than 5 miles, other times it may take 15 miles to recharge 2 bars, or I've turned that car off to run in to a store and returned 5 minutes later to mysteriously gain 5 bars that don't diminish for the the rest of the 15 miles home.
So far I'm not impressed, and I'm hoping the smaller packs and better ventilation setups of the I2 will avoid the issues my 4.5 yr old Civic is developing.

I was at the Honda dealer getting an oil change and reading brochures on Friday. The 2010 Cvic - Hybird brochure was boasting the same technologies as in the Insight ...tech which has been working great so far.

The govt. mpg booklet, for all cars, showed the 2010 Insight at 40 mpg city and 43 hwy, and the 2010 Civic Hybird at 40 mpg city and 45 hwy! (..My experience though was 48-50 mpg hwy, till I increased tire pressures to 40 psi, then mpg increased to 52-53 mpg hwy.)

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